The present invention relates to the technical field of separating molecules or particles by using separator elements, generally referred to as xe2x80x9cmembranesxe2x80x9d, adapted to separate molecules or particles contained in a fluid medium for treatment.
The subject matter of the invention finds a particularly advantageous application in the field of filtering (in the general sense) a fluid medium for treatment, and in particular in the fields of nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, etc.
In conventional manner, a filter installation has a circuit for circulating the fluid to be treated, said circuit being constituted by pipes, ducts, or more generally tubes, with at least one filter housing being inserted therein, the housing comprising a metal case having disposed therein tubular filter elements that extend parallel to one another. Each filter element has at least one flow channel for the fluid to be treated. The filter elements perform cross-flow filtering of the fluid to be treated in order to obtain a filtrate at the peripheral surfaces of the filter elements, which filtrate is recovered in a collection chamber arranged outside the housing.
In traditional manner, the filter housing is connected at each of its ends to a tube via a coupling system, that is of a type that depends on the application.
Thus, a first known type of coupling system is referred to as a xe2x80x9cclampxe2x80x9d type and is in very widespread use in the food industry. Such a system comprises:
a clamp type flange provided with a tightening cone and mounted on the tube to be connected;
a backing-plate of the clamp type likewise provided with a tightening cone and mounted on the filter housing;
a sealing gasket interposed between said flange and said backing-plate; and
tightening means of the clamp type constituted by a collar which is fitted over the tightening cones of the flange and the backing-plate in order to compress the gasket and consequently provide sealing between the tube and the filter housing.
A second type of coupling system is also known that is referred to as a gripper type system and is used in particular in the farm-produce industry, that is less expensive than the clamp type coupling system, in particular, since it does not require clamping cones to be provided.
Such a gripper coupling system comprises:
a gripper type flange provided with a peripheral groove and fitted to the tube for coupling;
a backing-plate of the gripper type likewise provided with a peripheral groove and mounted on the filter housing;
a sealing member interposed between said flange and said backing-plate; and
gripper type tightening means distributed around said flange and said backing-plate in order to pinch the sealing member.
A third type of coupling system is also known, that is referred to as a flange type system which is used in particular in the field of chemistry. Such a coupling system comprises:
a flange mounted on the tube to be connected;
a backing-plate mounted on the filter housing;
a flat gasket interposed between said flange and said backing-plate; and
flange type fasteners constituted by nuts and bolts acting between the flange and the backing-plate in order to compress the gasket and consequently provide sealing.
It should be observed that it is necessary to have as many types of housing as there are types of coupling system. The Applicant has felt the need to have a filter housing of universal nature, capable of being made independently of the coupling system that is used.
The present invention thus seeks to satisfy this requirement by proposing a device enabling a tube to be connected to a filter housing using the various known types of coupling system, while implementing a universal type filter housing capable of being coupled to a tube using the various types of coupling system.
The subject matter of the invention thus seeks to achieve such an object and relates to a device for using various types of coupling system to connect a tube to a filter housing including a series of tubular filter elements, each coupling system of a given type comprising:
a flange of said type fitted to the tube;
a backing-plate of said type for connection to the filter housing;
a sealing member interposed between said flange and said backing-plate; and
tightening means of said type acting between said flange and said backing-plate in order to provide sealing between them.
According to the invention, the device comprises:
a head plate independent of the type of coupling system fixed to the housing and provided with passages for receiving the ends of the tubular filter elements, these passages opening out in a bearing face of the head plate;
for each backing-plate of a given type, a first bearing face complementary to the bearing face of the head plate, and a second bearing face adapted to co-operate with the flange of corresponding type;
a sealing gasket interposed between the first bearing face of a backing-plate of a given type and the head plate; and
releasable connection means between the head plate and each backing-plate of a given type to provide sealing between them and to enable each backing-plate of a given type to be mounted on and removed from the head plate.
In a first variant embodiment, the backing-plate of a given type forms part of a clamp type coupling system.
In a second variant embodiment, the backing-plate of a given type forms part of a gripper type coupling system.
In a third variant embodiment, the backing-plate of a given type forms part of a flange type coupling system.
Other embodiments appear in the description below made with reference to the accompanying drawings which show embodiments and implementations of the subject matter of the invention by way of non-limiting examples.